Quantification of clotiazepam in human plasma by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

An analytical procedure was developed and validated for the quantification of clotiazepam in human plasma. After subjecting plasma samples to solid-phase extraction, the extract was evaporated and the residue re-constituted. An aliquot of the mixture was injected onto a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system. The detector response was linear for clotiazepam concentrations in the range of 5-200 ng/ml. Intra- and inter-day precision for the assay over the concentration range was below 13.1 and 13.5%, and the accuracy ranged between 99.0-107.9% and 92.4-101.3%, respectively. The drug was found to be stable under various processing conditions used. The method is applicable to human pharmacokinetic studies of clotiazepam.